UAE hosts first World Energy Forum

The UAE has opened the first World Energy Forum outside the United Nations headquarters in Dubai on Monday, the forum’s official website reported. 

The UAE is a suitable choice to host the conference due to “its geographic and strategic location; its status as a global hub of finance, business, trade, energy, and tourism; and because of the political stability of the United Arab Emirates,” the energy forum’s organizers said. 

The three-day World Energy Forum 2012 will see international organizations and multi-national corporations seek tangible progress in sustainable energy initiatives.

Around two thousand delegates including several heads of state, national energy ministers and top leaders from the industry world are expected to attend the event.

The UAE has also made special arrangements for the event. A new VIP passenger service, Al-Majlis, has opened its new facility in Dubai International’s Terminal 3 to accommodate the dignitaries attending the forum. 

According to the official state news agency, WAM, dozens of heads of state, ministers and other industry leaders have made use of the new facility after arriving in Dubai.

Dubai’s Ruler and Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said that the Gulf state is set to host the event in a year designated by the United Nations as the “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.” 

“One and half billion people out of seven billions around the world are deprived of the electric energy, which represents a massive challenge for us, and we should all face this through cooperation and coordination among all the advanced and developing countries,” WAM reported him as saying during his speech in the forum. 

Discussion will include debates on nuclear energy in light of Japanese Fukushima disaster last year. Radiation was leaked from the nuclear plant following the 2011 Tsunami that ravaged parts of the country.

There will also be a special session highlighting energy as a women’s issue as well as women’s role in assuring sustainable development.

On Friday, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has granted a contract to the U.S.-based First Solar to build the first phase of the $3.3 billion Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park in the city.

The deal represents the latest in Dubai’s project to diversify its energy sector and to increase solar power to 1 percent by 2020 and 5 percent by 2030.

The region is considered to be blessed with an abundance of a proven renewable energy source, sunlight.